Blue
by btown44
Summary: Is it all for nothing?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1 **_

Fox flew through the black abyss of space without a destination. For some reason, staring out into the stars seemed to absorb the pain he felt. He was alone now, and it was his fault. He had pushed everyone he cared about away from him and he didn't know if he could ever bring them back. Fox had told Krystal to leave the team because he was scared of the possibility that something bad could happen to her. Krystal sobbed as she begged Fox not to make her to leave, telling him that she would never come back, but she was unable to change his mind.

Fox tried to maintain his composure as he watched Krystal's arwing slowly fly away out the window, but when the light from her thrusters faded, he fell to his knees, losing control of his emotions.

_I'm sorry Krystal… I'm so sorry… What have I done…_

With Krystal gone, Fox wasn't the same. Nothing really seemed to matter to him anymore. Falco and Slippy tried everything to help Fox move on. The last thing Falco said to him before leaving played through his mind over and over.

_You know what Fox, you've changed. You just don't seem to give a shit about anyone or anything anymore. Slippy and I have tried everything to snap you out of whatever state you're in, but nothing is working. We're not going keep sitting here and watch you drink yourself into a stupor every day. Were leaving the team Fox. I hope you find a way past this._

It had been over a year since they left, and he yearned for the way things used to be. Fox opened up a side compartment of his cockpit and pulled out a bottle. It was a expensive bottle of Whiskey that Falco had gotten him to celebrate defeating Andross. Fox held up the bottle in front of him. " Cheers, to you Krystal. I hope your happy, wherever you are." He then took a large swig.

"Fox, incoming transmission from General Hare."

"Alright ROB, send him a message saying i'll be on the bridge in a few minutes."

Fox put the bottle back in the compartment and began navigating back to the Great Fox. He hated doing solo assignments. Not having any backup made things much more dangerous, but he found comfort in that he only had to worry about himself.

"Fox, I have detected a friendly Arwing approaching."

Fox's ears perked up. "Really? Who is it?"

"No identifier signal received. They are requesting to dock."

"Granted."

Fox pushed his Arwing as fast as it would go. He prayed that it would be Krystal. He would give anything to be able to apologize to her and make things right. His heart started pounding in his chest as the Great Fox came into sight.

Fox parked his ship next to the other Arwing, then jumped out and began to look around for the other pilot. Not seeing anyone, he looked into the other ship thinking they may not have gotten out yet but did not see anyone in the cockpit.

_Hmmm, maybe they already started heading for the bridge. They must have been in a hurry though because they couldnt have been here for more than a minute before I got here. _

"Hey ROB, is anyone on the bridge?"

"Negative, sensors show that no one has even left the docking bay."

_What? That makes no sense. No one is here._

Fox climbed onto the other Arwing and popped open the canopy. His eyes lit up when he saw Krystals necklace on the seat. There was also a picture of the both of them together on the control panel. Then, something else caught his eye. There was what seemed to be blood on both the controls and the canopy of the ship. Fox began to feel very concerned. He scanned the hanger as he climbed down.

"Krystal? Where are you? Are you alright?"

Fox heard a loud bang coming from behind him. He felt a jolt of pain as a blaster round grazed his shoulder. Fox let out a loud yelp as he quickly turned around.

"Wolf? How did you… where is Krystal?!"

Wolf, still pointing his blaster at Fox, smiled as he replied "I would be more worried about yourself if I were you."

Fox reached for his blaster only to realize he had left it in his ship. He bared his teeth as he said "What did you do to her you son of a bi-"

Before he could finish, Wolf fired another shot, hitting Fox in the thigh. He let out another yelp as he fell to the ground gripping his leg.

"Don't worry, she managed to escape before I could kill her." Wolf put his blaster back in the holster and approached Fox who was still gripping his leg and whimpering in pain. "Lucky for you McCloud, I'm supposed to take you alive. But don't expect to stay that way long."

The last thing Fox saw was the bottom of Wolf's boot, than nothing but stars.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

"How have you been holding up Krystal?"

The blue vixen turned away from the image of Peppy and looked out the side of her Arwing. She was in orbit above the white, desolate, and snowy planet Fichina.

"Alright, thanks for asking Peppy."

Krystal lied through her teeth, she wasn't alright, and it was hard for her to hide her emotions. She didn't have a home, any family, or anyone that cared about her. For the last few months she has been sleeping in the cockpit of her cramped Arwing. There was only one thing keeping her going. She turned again to look at the picture she kept of her and Fox.

"Are you sure? You don't seem alright to me. You know you can talk to me about anything right?"

She turned her focus back on the image of Peppy. "Yes I know that, thank you for your concern Peppy but I'm fine. So do you have a new assignment for me?"

"No, I dont, I was actually contacting you to give you a heads up. My sources in the Surgasso Region have informed me that Wolf has been given a contract to eliminate all members of the former Star Fox team."

"What!? By who? Why?"

"I don't have allot of information regarding who it is that hired Wolf or what they are planning, but I am told that they go by the alias "R". I have already made contact with Falco, he is going to meet up with you in a few hours, than tomorrow the both of you will meet up with Slippy and Fox. Ill have more information for you once you are all together on the Great Fox."

Krystal's eyes lit up. All her fear and worry instantly vanished when she heard she would be seeing Fox again, and very soon.

"Have you spoken to Fox yet Peppy?"

"No, I haven't, I am going to contact Slippy next, than Fox. But it is getting late, I may just contact Fox early tomorrow morning, I would prefer to let him rest with his mind at ease so he can be at his best tomorrow. Besides, it could take Wolf days to even get an idea of where Fox could be."

"Alright Peppy, what are you going to do?"

"Dont worry about me, I'm safe. Listen, you need to be vigilant, if anything happens or you see anything suspicious, contact me immediately. I am going to contact Slippy now. Be safe Krystal. Ill speak with you early tomorrow morning."

Krystal nodded. "Alright Peppy, you stay safe as well."

"Peppy out."

When Peppy's face disappeared from the screen, she looked back to the picture of her and Fox and smiled.

_I cant believe it, I'm going to see Fox again. I am going to be with my family again. _

A red warning light suddenly lit up on the control panel.

_What? That means my radar has detected a incoming ship. Maybe Peppy was wrong about Falco's timing. _

Krystal activated her ships transmitter.

"Falco, this is Krystal, is that you?"

Her heart skipped a beat when there was no reply, she could sense telepathically that whoever it was, they were getting closer fast. Before she could do anything, her shields took 4 hits from laser fire. Krystal screamed as she quickly started the engines and jerked the accelerator forward as far as it would go. Her shields were at 10 percent. Another hit would surely kill her.

Krystal knew that a Wolfen couldn't keep up with a Arwing but she was pushing her ship to the limit of how fast it would go and could still sense her pursuer getting closer. She had to think quickly. Suddenly, Krystal moved all the power from the engines to the backward thrusters, bringing the ship to almost a complete stop in only a few seconds, hoping that the other ship would speed by her so she could get she a clear shot on them. Krystal charged her lasers to increase the damage and just as she planned, her pursuer flew by her. She got a clear lock on and fired. It took a moment for the charged laser round to reach the enemy ship, but when it hit its mark it sent the ship hurtling down in a fiery blaze toward the surface of Fichina.

Krystal breathed a sigh of relief as she watched. But she knew she had to follow it down to make sure they were dead. She couldn't let them have another chance to kill her or her friends. So she began to descend down to the planets surface, following the smoke and debris trail.

Upon arriving at the crash site. Krystal could barely see the remains of the ship through all the smoke. The gusts of wind kicking up snow helped to decrease visibility as well. She landed her Arwing next to the wrecked ship and prepared to go out into the freezing cold. Her last mission had been to capture a fugitive hiding out on Fichina so she was somewhat prepared for the cold weather. She opened a compartment on the floor and pulled out a heavy coat, gloves, and snow pants that all had white camouflage. Once she had everything on she opened the canopy and climbed off the Arwing. Sensing the other pilot was still alive, she began cautiously walking towards the burning ship, taking out her blaster. For a brief moment the smoke cleared and she was able to see that the canopy was open. Krystal froze in fear when she suddenly started hearing fast paced, snow crunching footsteps approaching from in front of her but couldn't see through the smoke. She panicked and started firing blindly into the black air. Out of nowhere, she was tackled by Wolf, the force of the hit causing Krystal to drop her blaster. He landed on top of her and put his hands around her throat choking her.

"Do you know how much that ship cost me you bitch!"

Krystal did everything she could, kicking and punching his arms but nothing was going to work.

_This is really it. I'm going to die. I just wanted to see Fox again. I'm sorry Fox, I should have told you how I felt about you. _

Krystal reached her arms out in both directions, trying to find her blaster. Luckily she did find a piece of of debris from the wreck. She got a grip on it than swung it as hard as she could, hitting Wolf in the side of the head. He yelped as he fell off of Krystal and onto his side. Krystal quickly got up and ran as fast as she could for cover behind one of the many large boulders that were in the area. She tried to calm down and catch her breath while thinking of what her next move would be.

"Where the hell did you go!?"

Krystal peeked her head out to see Wolf holding one hand on his head, spinning around in circles trying to locate her. She wouldn't be surprised if he was seeing double after how hard she had hit him.

"Dammit! I dont have time for this."

Krystal watched as Wolf angrily started walking away towards where her Arwing was parked. He was going to leave her there to die. Right before Wolf got inside he turned around.

"My next target is your boyfriend and I know exactly where he is, and I am going to make sure he suffers before I kill him. Than once he is dead I am going to kill that frog and the bird. After that I am going to come back to this miserable planet to make sure you're dead. And if your still alive when I get back, your going to wish the cold had killed you first."

If Wolf really did know where Fox was, it wouldn't take long at all to get to him. Krystal could do nothing but watch as Wolf took off into the white sky. Her back slid down the frozen boulder until she was sitting on the ground. She started crying uncontrollably. She had never come so close to death before, and she had no way to warn Fox about Wolf. After a few minutes she realized that Falco could be in range of the wrecked ships transmitter, but it was a long shot that any of the systems in that ship would still work. If it did work, she could contact Falco, and then Falco could tell Peppy to warn Fox. Krystal quickly regained her composure, and started running towards the wreckage.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Snow whirled around Falco's Arwing as he descended, landing close to the still burning ship. He could barely make out the blue vixen through the blizzard. He opened his canopy, immediately feeling the chill of cold air causing him to shiver. He signaled Krystal to quickly get in.

"Are you alri-"

"We have to get to Fox now! Wolf is already heading for him!"

Krystal quickly climbed into his Arwing, sitting in the small space behind his seat.

Falco exhaled into his hands and rubbed them together as he waited for the engines to fire up. He turned his head, looking behind him at Krystal through the corner of his eye. She looked as if she had been to hell and back. "Don't worry Krys, Fox will be fine, were not far behind Wolf." The Arwing then blasted off at incredible speed back into space.

"Thank you for coming Falco. If it wasn't for you, I would be freezing to death back there."

"Don't mention it, that's what friends are for."

For a while, neither of them spoke. Falco knew what she must feel like.

"You know, back when me and Fox first started doing missions together, we felt unbeatable. Like you could throw any situation at us and we would always find a way to overcome it. During one of our first missions, Fox and I were ordered to hold our position outside a swarming outpost full of Andross's soldiers. So we were sitting there, bored out of our minds, waiting for our forces to arrive to begin the attack when Fox comes up with the brilliant idea of just taking down the outpost ourselves on foot. So we make a plan to split up. Fox would start the assault from the front, while I would flank from behind. So I sneak in, quietly taking out a few guards, and could already hear blaster fire and alarms coming from the other side of the outpost. I continue taking down guards, making my way towards the source of all the blaster fire. When I finally saw where Fox was, I realized that we had underestimated the amount of soldiers that were stationed there. He was pinned down behind a big truck by a few dozen soldiers. So I take out my rifle and start picking as many as I can off, one by one. Eventually, they all start to focus on me instead. I told Fox to get out of there while he could because there were too many. But Fox being Fox, he tells me there is no way he is leaving me behind. He starts making his way towards me, moving from cover to cover, barely dodging blaster rounds while I do my best to provide cover fire. When he finally made it to me, he was covered in cuts and burns from near misses. I tell him he is the craziest animal I have ever met and he just laughed." Falco chuckled. "Together we held off all those dumb apes until our forces arrived. I survived that day because he didn't give up on me." Falco looked down before continuing. "But when he needed me, I gave up on him."

"What do you mean Falco? You did everything you could."

"No, he needed me a different time. I guess what I am trying to say is real friends help each other no matter how bad a situation gets. You can't do everything alone. That's why I think I am going to join back up with Fox when this is over, and you should to."

Krystal took a moment to respond. "But Fox didn't want me on the team, remember?"

"It's not that he didn't want you on the team, he just didn't want you to get hurt. He really cares about you Krystal, and I think if he had the opportunity to have you on the team again, he wouldn't hesitate to say yes." Falco knew that Fox loved her, but he felt that Fox should be the one to tell her that, not him. Krystal didn't respond to what Falco said. Instead she remained quiet.

"ETA to Great Fox two minutes, maybe we beat Wolf. You ready Krys?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

The first thing Fox noticed upon waking up was the throbbing ache that came from his leg. He sat up to examine it but noticed that it had been bandaged, so was the Burn on his arm. He was in a dark room, the only light coming from underneath a door a few feet in front of him. He struggled to his feet and limped to the door only to find it locked. A glow of light suddenly brightened to room from behind him. Fox turned to face a screen with an image of someone in a black metallic suit and helmet with a dark red visor. It was standing in what seemed to be some kind of control room.

"Hello Fox." It said in a low intimidating voice.

Fox didn't respond, he just glared into the screen.

"I see Wolf got carried away, I told him to capture you, not almost kill you. Sorry about that."

"Who the hell are you?! What do you want from me!?"

"Well, I go by R, and originally I was just going to kill you, but I figured that would be a waste to just kill someone as talented as you are. I want you to help me."

Fox chuckled as he responded "Oh really, and what makes you think that I would be willing to help you?"

"This." The wall on the side of the room Fox was in split apart revealing a view out into space. In the distance he could barely make out the Great Fox.

"Below this window, on the floor, you will find a pair of thermal optic binoculars. Please put those on and take another look."

Fox found the binoculars and slid them over his eyes. When he looked back out the window, he saw the heat signature of at least fifty stealth fighters surrounding the Great Fox.

"Threatening to destroy my flag ship won't get me to help you."

"Oh right, I forgot to mention that your friends are currently on that ship. I believe it's the bird and the blue fox, I think her name is Krystal."

Fox's eyes widened as he felt his heart sink into his chest.

"They came to save you but they were obviously too late."

Fox felt a strong sense of rage start to build up.

"First, I would send in Wolf's team, along with ten of my finest men. I think I would have them kill the bird and take the blue vixen alive. You know, she is very pretty, I think I just might have them bring her to me so I could have my way with her."

"Enough!" Fox punched the glass with enough force to almost make it crack. "If I agree to help you, I want your word that you won't harm them."

"You have my word Fox. I will call off Wolf's team along with my forces."

Fox's anger was slowly replaced by sadness as he stared at the Great Fox in the distance. He knew he didn't have a choice. Fox turned back to the screen.

"What do you want me to do?"


End file.
